


Such Good Friends

by NoLifePoints (Vesperbat)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 17:01:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11994102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vesperbat/pseuds/NoLifePoints
Summary: Honda treats Bakura to an impromptu burger. Bakura reconsiders long-held assumptions about Honda's sexuality.(Pre-relationship exploration of Bakura's perspective.)





	Such Good Friends

As Bakura stood, dizziness ate at the edges of his vision. He took a step back and swayed, one hand pressed to his forehead. Firm hands guided him back down onto the bench.

“Bakura? Hey, Bakura? Are you okay?” Honda was close to his face now, brows knitted.

“Just a head rush.” He patted his cheeks with his hands and tried to gather his wits. A dull ache had stolen over him, sliding into his skull like a wayward ghost. 

“You forgot to eat again, didn’t you?” Honda placed his fist against Bakura’s forehead in a mock punch, though there was no force behind it. Bakura’s silence was damning. “That’s no good. Come on, I’m getting you a burger.”

“You don’t need to do that. If I grab something from a vending machine-”

Honda shook his head. “You need real food, which means you need a burger. My treat.”

“But…”

Honda clapped him on the back. “You don’t have to be polite with me. We’re friends, you know? Let’s go.”

Beneath the shade of an umbrella table, Bakura sipped orange soda and took small, dutiful bites of the burger Honda insisted on buying him. It was good to be out of the sun. “Honda… you’re always so nice to me...”

Honda tipped the straw of his shake to his forehead in a salute. “Like I said, we’re friends.”

Giggling, Bakura replied, “If you keep saying stuff like that, I might cry.”

“Huh? Why would you cry?”

Cringing inwardly, Bakura dropped that remark onto the pile of stupid things he had accidentally said to clueless straight guys. “Oh, no reason,” he said. “’cause I’m so touched.” He flashed Honda the most carefree smile he could muster.

Honda blinked. “I guess you didn’t have a lot of friends before, did you? Ah- not that it was your fault. You sure had a lot of wannabe girlfriends, though.” He grinned. “Too bad we’re not in high school anymore. With all those free lunches, you’d never go hungry. Lucky bastard.”

Bakura flushed. “Ah… I never accepted those. I didn’t want to give anybody the wrong idea.”

“I… see.” Honda stared at his hands on the table, his shake forgotten. Bakura stared, too. Large and work-rough, they could probably be classified as a weapon, yet Honda had only ever been gentle with him. Bakura wondered how one would feel closed around his own.

“Is it hard being gay?” Honda asked.

Bakura held his burger mid-air, mouth hanging open. Ketchup dripped onto his paper plate. “Um- well-”

“Shit. Sorry. You don’t have to answer that.” Honda rubbed his neck. “Not really sure why I asked in the first place.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” Bakura considered. “I think… even if it is hard, there’s nothing I can do about that, right? You just have to take things as they come.” He paused. “I- I mean- in general, not that you...”

Honda smiled. “Thanks. Hey… you accepted my lunch.”

“But-” Bakura squeezed the remains of his burger so hard the condiments oozed around the edges. He frowned. “Because we’re friends! You said so yourself!”

Smirking, Honda said, “Now you’re going to make me cry.”

Honda might have been straight, but maybe he was less clueless than Bakura had thought.

… was Honda straight?

Somehow, this was not a question he had given any real thought before now. Honda was always pining away for some girl, wasn't he? The nervous nod he responded with when Bakura first told him he liked guys seemed to confirm the initial assumption. That arm’s length acceptance, not quite disapproval, not quite sincerity… as he chewed, Bakura mulled over new possibilities. Fascinating ones. If his heart pounded any harder, he was afraid Honda might hear it from across the table.

“Bakura..?”

“Mmph-” Bakura forced the last bite of burger down his throat. “Just zoned out. Sorry. Honda, you...” Honda leaned in, brows raised, but Bakura couldn’t ask the question he wanted to ask. Not here. Not now. “You really are a good friend.”

Where was the line between open-mindedness, realism, and wishful thinking?


End file.
